Kenner to dredge shallow Laketown harbor

Brett Duke / The Times-PicayuneBirds wade in the shallow water at the edge of the Kenner Boat Launch. The harbor will be dredged and the silt will be dumped about 1,000 feet to the west, where Kenner is trying to create marshland.

As his boat's propeller stirred up mud from the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain, Larry Albaral concentrated on his depth finder. It showed less than 1 foot.

"The whole thing is silted in," he said, shaking his head. "The whole thing is shallow."

Indeed, Hurricane Katrina dumped so much silt in the harbor at Kenner's Laketown boat launch four years ago that it can still clog a boat motor or scratch the vessel's underside.

Mayor Ed Muniz likely will sign the contract and order work started in February, said Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Mike Quigley.

The work will about 120 days, during which the boat launch will be closed on weekdays but open on weekends, Quigley said.

"That is nothing compared to the benefits," Albaral said.

Brett Duke / The Times-PicayuneChris Fuhrman and Mark Boos, of Precision Marine, navigate through the shallow water at the Kenner Boat Launch as their boat kicks up mud Thursday.

Mark Boos, co-owner of Precision Marine, a Kenner business that builds performance engines for boats, agreed.

"Over the last two years, there have been many times we have not even been able to use the launch because it's too shallow," he said.

Nolan Haro, a vessel safety examiner and past commander of the New Orleans Power Squadron, also applauded the dredging plan. Even though his boat won't be affected as much as others because it can launch in shallow water, he said the dredging is "good for all boats," especially if it's completed by summer.

"May is usually when people are starting to come out," he said. "That's a busy time."